The media has been referred to as the "fourth estate" ever since Edmund Burke coined the phrase in the mid 1700s. Medieval societies had always been structured into estates. The first being the clergy, the second the nobility, and the third the common people. With the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg, and the emergence of mass produced word as a powerful player in society, the press became the fourth estate. The idea was that the fourth estate, the press, report on the other estates unbiasedly and with a commitment to the truth. As Burke said, "There sat a fourth estate more important by far than them all."
Edmund Burke's words are as true today as they were centuries ago. The fourth estate plays an extremely important role in society, and I think it can be argued that they play a role by far more important than them all. The fourth estate has definitely adapted since medieval times, but the concept remains the same. In 1700s England and France, there was the clergy, nobility, common people, and mass produced written word as the fourth estate. Today in the United States we have three branches of government; the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The press may not be a formal branch of government in the US, but the republic's founders implied a role for the press with the first amendment, which led to the press in the US being informally referred to as the fourth estate. Just like in medieval times, the fourth estate in our country today is expected to monitor the other branches on behalf of the people. The fourth estate is significant because they have one of the most important jobs in society, which is keeping those who are in charge honest. By acting as a watchdog, the fourth estate is responsible for exposing any wrong doing by the government. The fourth estate plays a significant role in society because without the press acting as the fourth estate, the government would get away with a lot, and the public wouldn't know anything about it.
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